Brouwerij Haacht

Haacht is a Belgian family brewery whose story began not in a grand industrial complex, but at a small dairy in Boortmeerbeek. On June 14, 1898, brewing engineer Eugène De Ro made the site’s first top-fermented beer. Four years later, Haacht added bottom-fermented beer, setting the course for a brewery that would grow from local beginnings into one of Belgium’s notable independent brewing houses. From dairy to brewery Before the brewery existed, the present site housed the Melkerij van Haecht dairy. Eugène De Ro joined the dairy in 1897 and began brewing there the following year. His first beer was top-fermented; the later move into bottom-fermented brewing proved highly successful, and by 1913 the Brouwerij en Melkerij van Haecht had risen to prominence in Belgian brewing. The beer tram Haacht’s early expansion was closely tied to transport and distribution. During the 1920s, a rail line ran across the brewery grounds, carrying barrels toward Schaarbeek. There, the beer was transferred to carts for delivery to Brussels beer merchants and cafés—a practical piece of brewing infrastructure that linked the Boortmeerbeek brewery with the capital. A modern independent brewer The brewery installed its first bottling plant in 1950, while Alfred van der Kelen took over management the next year. After decades of acquisitions and wider distribution, Haacht began a complete modernization of its production facilities in 1990. It remains an independent Belgian family brewery based in Boortmeerbeek. Haacht’s defining character is an independent family-brewery tradition rooted in a former dairy and carried forward through steady modernization. Boortmeerbeek, Flemish Brabant, Belgium 1898 1897: Brewing engineer Eugène De Ro began working at the Melkerij van Haecht dairy. 1898: On June 14, Eugène De Ro brewed the site’s first top-fermented beer. 1902: Haacht began brewing bottom-fermented beer. 1913: The Brouwerij en Melkerij van Haecht had become a leading name in Belgian brewing. 1990: Haacht began a complete modernization of its production facilities.